The Way Home
by strawberryfinn
Summary: Following an accident, Carey is killed, Zack is paralyzed, and Cody becomes mentally challenged. Can Zack help Cody find himself again?
1. Chapter 1

**Note**: I do not own _The Suite Life of Zack and Cody_ or the characters Carey Martin, Cody Martin, or Zack Martin. However, I _do_ own this plotline and story. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1:

Carey slammed her feet down on the brakes of the car, hearing the screech of the tires. Next to her, Cody screamed as another car collided with theirs, slamming into the passenger side. The airbag exploded, Carey's head crashing against it, and Zack yelped in agony from the back as the car smashed the passenger's door in, the metal pushing itself into the flesh of his leg. Cody's head slammed against the window, his arm snapped at the impact.

It happened so fast. Yet it would change them all forever.

5 years later

Zack pushed himself down the hallway, wishing more than anything that he could walk again. He knew it wasn't happening, of course. Ever since the accident, Zack's legs had been paralyzed, so he needed a wheelchair.

Five years ago, yet it destroyed them all so fast. He had been twelve. He was seventeen now. But at least he was still alive.

Unlike his mother.

Carey was killed… the impact was too great, and Zack had been unconscious when they had her funeral. His life had never been the same.

But sometimes Zack thought that what Carey's fate had led her to was better than what had happened to Cody.

Cody. It hurt Zack to think about it. Cody wasn't normal anymore.

He was mentally challenged—the accident had done something to his head. He'd been taken away for medical tests, and Zack hadn't seen his brother for four years.

But Zack was visiting him. Today. He was going to be with him for possibly the next few months.

The doctors were stumped. They had run into a dead end. They had no idea how to fix Cody, what had happened to him. They decided to let him meet a loved one and see if he got better. They chose the most obvious person. Cody's twin. Zack.

Zack would be spending all his time with his twin for awhile. It was ok with the school board. They understood. They'd send his work home—Maddie promised to help him, London as well. It was amazing how much they had all changed. London was now studying her father's business—she would be opening her own Tipton in Paris.

Zack wheeled himself over to the room, down the hall. A home for sick people. In other words, thought Zack grimly, _an asylum_. A mental hospital.

This was where his twin now lived.

Zack felt his pain at night. His brother screamed for release, screamed to live again. It wasn't happening.

A doctor came out to meet Zack, his mouth like a tight line. He, Zack found out his name was Dr. Staffner, explained, in a low worried voice, about the conditions Zack would have to treat his brother with. "You must treat him like he is no older than six years old. Cody tends to have rocket-like mood swings. One day he's perfectly fine, the next you wish he wasn't alive. Do not lose your temper or threaten him in any way—it completely destroys him. Do not get angry, for he will hurt you and we will have to give him a vaccination that puts him out for awhile. File a report to me on how he's doing—if his condition improves, than that's better than what we've been able to do. Talk to him… you _are_ his twin."

He led Zack over to a room—almost like a little playroom. "Good luck."

Zack wheeled himself in, trying to cover his shock at the cheerful background of the walls. Elephants, monkeys, happy smiling animals dotted the walls. What kind of environment was this for a seventeen-year-old boy?

Zack looked around the room, which seemed completely blank. Then he saw a bed that lay over in the corner. A tall, lanky boy with golden hair sat on it, looking like a complete angel with his unblemished and innocent face.

Cody.

Zack struggled to keep from crying. Here was his brother… his twin… the person who had been grabbed from his life and who had been missing all this time.

"Cody?" he started, trying to keep his voice steady.

Cody looked at his blanket and picked steadily at it. Only then did Zack realize that the light blue, flannel blanket was none other than Blankie.

"Cody," Zack tried again. His twin looked up at him. "Cody, it's me. Zack. Your brother."

"Hi Zack," said Cody happily, raising one hand to wave at his brother. "Dr. Staffner said you'd be taking care of me."

"That's right," smiled Zack, trying to remain calm. "I'm going to be here with you for awhile. Say, isn't that Blankie?"

Cody nodded, his smile filling up his face and his eyes sparkling. "Yeah, this is Blankie, Zack. Mommy gave him to me."

"Where's your mom?" Zack's voice broke. Was Cody unaware that his mother was dead?

Cody's smile faded, and he simply shrugged off the question indifferently. He picked up a stuffed bird that lay on the bed. "Say hi to Birdie," he ordered Zack.

Zack decided to listen. "Hey."

"No!" Cody demanded. "Say hi to _Birdie_."

"Hi Birdie," Zack felt stupid saying it, but he couldn't possibly imagine that his brother could have changed this much.

"Birdie says hi," Cody told Zack. "Birdie's tired, so Birdie has to go to sleep."

"Where does Birdie sleep?" Zack asked. How could this be Cody? Cody, who had always been the intelligent one who understood everything about the digestive system while Zack stared on blankly. Cody, who had brought home straight A's all the time.

"In his house," said Cody, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Birdie has to go home," he whispered softly, his voice ending in a whisper. He picked up a pillow and stuffed the yellow bird under it. "Good night Birdie. Time to go to your home."

A tear trickled down Cody's cheek, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Why are you sad Cody?" Zack asked him.

Cody didn't answer him. He seemed not to listen—Zack realized he sort of had selective hearing and went stone deaf at times.

"Why don't you go home Cody?" Zack tried again.

Cody looked up at him. "I don't have a home anymore," he said softly, almost in a sing-song voice. "Mommy's dead."

xxx

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

"I REFUSE TO TAKE CARE OF THIS ANY MORE! I WANT HIM TO BE MOVED TO THE CHILDREN'S WARD!"

A large red-headed nurse was screaming at Dr. Staffner. Zack, in his wheelchair, flinched.

The lady was holding a bunch of soiled sheets in one arm. Cody had wet the bed. Again.

Zack looked over at his twin, who was sitting on the bed, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry," Cody whispered. "I'm a bad boy."

"No you're not," Zack said, feeling pain that Cody had to apologize for something that truly wasn't his fault. He couldn't help it.

"I don't want to go to the children's ward," Cody whimpered softly.

"Why?" asked Zack stupidly.

"They'll think I'm just a BIG BABY!" Cody yelled. "I don't want them to think that, Zack. I don't want to."

"Oh Cody," Zack said, wheeling himself closer to his brother and putting an arm around him. "It's ok. I don't think that."

Dr. Staffner walked in. "Come on Cody, it's time for your exercise."

Zack watched as Cody's face paled in horror. "NO!" he suddenly screamed. "I DON'T WANT TO GO IN THAT ROOM!"

Dr. Staffner saw the puzzled expression on Zack's face. "It's the isolation room," he told him. "It's to prepare him for… for what happens in the _real_ world."

xxx

Fifteen minutes later, Zack was watching in horrified fascination at his brother. Cody had been placed in a large white room with padded walls, and he had been locked in there. Zack could see into the windows and watch his brother, but Cody could not see out, because the windows were black from his side. In theory, he _was_ completely alone. So _this _was isolation.

Cody had been screaming and slamming his hands against the walls the whole time now. Zack couldn't watch anymore. He buried his face in his hands. This was too hard.

Dr. Staffner looked at him worriedly. "Do you see Zack? How will Cody survive in the real world?"

"Let him out," was the muffled reply. Then there was a small moan.

Zack could feel his brother's pain and it wrenched away at his heart. Cody had just been reunited with his brother, and then Zack had been pulled away, once again. It broke his heart to see what Cody had to go through. It broke his heart.

He looked through a crack in his fingers.

Cody, his voice now hoarse, tears running down his face, had crumpled to a pile in the middle of the padded room. He was holding onto his legs, rocking back and forth in the fetal position. He reminded Zack of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings.

It hurt him.

"Let him out," he said again, reiterating his statement. "Let him out."

Dr. Staffner looked as if he was about to argue, but Zack almost shouted at him. "Let him out!"

Dr. Staffner took a ring of keys and unlocked the door. Zack brought his head up from where it had been in his hands, hastily wiping away his tears. Cody didn't need to see this.

Cody looked over at the open door, and stood up on shaky legs to go over to where Zack was. He walked out of the room, ignoring Dr. Staffner. "Zack."

Not seeming to realize the fact that he was actually a whole lot bigger and taller than Zack, he crawled into Zack's lap and sat down. Zack really didn't mind. Cody couldn't fit himself on the wheelchair, but Zack didn't care because he didn't have any feeling in his legs anyway. It didn't matter.

"It's ok, Cody," he said, trying to soothe his brother who was shaking with sobs. "It's ok."

"I'm sorry," Cody said. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Zack said, stroking his brother's back. "I love you. It's ok."

"I love you too Zack," said Cody, seeming delighted to hear that his brother loved him.

Dr. Staffner looked over Cody's head and winked at Zack. "Do you want to stay in for bath-time?

Zack shrugged—he guessed it didn't matter. "Come on," Zack said. "Let's go."

Cody got out of his lap and followed him down the hall as Zack wheeled after Dr. Staffner to a room that was labeled "Bathing Area." They entered, and in there was a bathtub.

Dr. Staffner turned on the faucet and filled a bathtub with warm water. "Come on Cody," he said kindly.

Cody pulled off his clothes—Zack helped him with his shirt, and Dr. Staffner put a bubble bath solution into the water. Pretty soon the tub was full of foamy, white bubbles. Dr. Staffner managed to get Cody in the bathtub. Luckily, Zack didn't have to see Cody naked. Dr. Staffner was used to that. Zack, however, was not.

Cody sat in the bathtub, blowing the foamy bubbles around. He giggled as he piled a bunch on his hair. "Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles," he sang in a high voice.

"Stop being silly," Zack teased, pushing his wheelchair closer to where Cody was. He grinned—Cody was so happy. Dr. Staffner smiled and left.

Cody pulled out a plastic boat and a rubber duck, letting them float in the water. "Vroom, vroom," he said happily, pushing the boat along. "Quack, quack," was the sound effect for the duck.

Zack handed him a plastic floating whale that lay on the side. Cody grinned and dunked the whale underwater. He then took a huge bunch of bubbles and threw them at Zack's face, completely covering his hair in a soapy mess.

"You silly boy!" Zack exclaimed. He tickled Cody, liking the way he laughed, yet missing a huge something. How could this be Cody? This couldn't be Cody!

Cody splashed the bubbles around for awhile, but then finally decided to let Zack wash his hair. He finished playing, and was ready to get out. The bubbles had almost dissolved, and Zack looked away.

Cody managed to get clean, and get dressed by himself. Zack was glad for this.

Zack went back to Cody's room with a clean Cody padding after him. In there, Zack played with Birdie and Blankie with Cody for half an hour, until Cody started to get tired. He pulled Birdie over to him, and tried to get under the covers. Zack managed to pull off his shoes before he put his feet under the blankets, but didn't manage to get Cody to change or anything.

He pulled the quilt on top of his brother, noticing how sweet he looked. Like an angel.

"Love you Cody," he said.

"Love you Zack," Cody whispered back. "You're nice to me, Zack. You don't make me think I'm stupid like Karl did."

"Who's Karl?" Zack wanted to know.

Cody didn't answer. He seemed not to hear.

"I love you Zack," Cody said. "You're nice to me and you play with me. Thank you God for sending me Zack," Cody said looking up somewhere. "Thank you God, thank you God. I love Zack. Amen," he sighed, closing his eyes.

Zack smiled. It could be hard, but he had his Cody back. Little did he know what would happen next week…

Sort of corny? What did you think? Review.


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